This the first newsletter of the Mau Mewsers (MM), which we hope to create quarterly for Adopters, Sponsors, Donators, and Volunteers to keep them updated on what is happening at EMRO and to create a vibrant on-line community. In future, this E-bulletin / Enewsletter will be posted on a “Members Only” section of the EMRO web site and only those who have expressed interest in these updates, or wish to participate, will be provided access. Basically, this applies to anyone who sponsored a cat in 2009 (and hopefully into 2010 and ongoing), donated at least $50 USD annually to the cause, adopted a Mau in 2009 or 2010, or gave of their time as a volunteer during 2009 or 2010.

In this E-newsletter you will view pictures of our adopted cats, whose adoptions were finalized and who jetted off successfully to various destinations in the Fall (Sept-Dec 2009). November was a successful month in flying out quite a number of cats out of Cairo and headed in the direction of their various destinations where their delighted new owners awaited them. Fortunately, this momentum continued in December with several Maus leaving for Germany, one to San Francisco, and one Mau who will soon be going to her new adopter in Seoul, S. Korea (see more in our “upcoming” section at the end)!

We hope to get everyone who has a Mau, is sponsoring a Mau, or is volunteering in whatever fashion, connected with each other through our new on-line club. In Cairo, we intend to hold an "Open Day" at EMRO, with one or two get-togethers at private homes to bring all those in the area under one roof to discuss Mau cats, socialize, and to provide videos, books, or CDs of interest, etc.

We now take pleasure in introducing you to all those hard-working people at EMRO. These include staff and volunteers:

STAFF UPDATES:
First of all, we would like to welcome Ms. Julifer (Julie) O. Jemenez, newly arrived in Egypt with her Egyptian husband, Mr. Mohamed El Sayed. She is taking on the position of Administrator at the EMRO center, which is very much needed. She will gradually be compiling lists of contacts, local adopters and sponsors, and following up with them on the status of their cats, filing the papers from the clinic and generally bringing some regular order into the operation. She will also field telephone enquiries among many other duties as required. She is a very welcome addition to our staff! She can be reached at: admin@emaurescue.org.

Congratulations and Mabruuk is in order to Dr. Nancy Elkasser, our Friday Vet, on her recent nuptials. We wish her and her husband all the best and many years of married happiness together!

We have two new animal workers: both of whom joined us in recent months and seem to be fitting in well. We have already received positive comments from visitors to the shelter on how clean it is (under Dr. Fahmy’s direction!), as well as how good the workers appear to interact with the cats and animals that come in. More info and photos in our next bulletin!

VOLUNTEER UPDATES:
We wish to thank Ms. Bettina von Stockfleth (Hamburg, Germany), who was our Webmaster last year, for her great help in organizing the website. Unfortunately, Ms. Bettina’s own work responsibilities obliged her to step down from these duties.

We wish to welcome Ms. Aida Marina as our new “WebMauster”, as she rose to the challenge quickly. This is in addition to her already very busy volunteer work as Sponsorship Manager (2 years) and Adoption Manager (1 year), as well as supporting three Maus, and sending various donation boxes to EMRO! Aida can be reached at WebMauster@emaurescue.org. In addition, Aida has been working faithfully for EMRO even though her administrative job got cancelled suddenly in California. After a long and fruitfless search for employment (while still flawlessly conducting numerous EMRO volunteer duties) in the clerical field during the current recession in the USA, after a year of unemployment, she has succeeded in finding work as a baker in a new health bakery a few blocks from her home in Pasedena, CA. She starts in January! We wish Aida all the best in her new career! Aida is the perfect employee for such a job as she is a diabetic and cannot eat the food products she produces!

Left - Aida Marina, family portrait; Right - Aida's Yahoo Avatar, 'Jedi aboard the Starship Enterprise with her faithful Egyptian Mau cat by her side.'

Thank you to our new cat socializers, Ms. Mary Ellen Siegfleld and her daughter, Yumna, who come weekly to the shelter to play with the cats to provide them with some company! They live near the shelter (Mary Ellen is an American married to an Egyptian) and they come in frequently, plus they take photos of our cats upon occasion. Thank you, ladies!

Mary Ellen Siegford and her daughter, Yumna, cat socializing at the EMRO shelter in Mokattam.

Our hard-working PR contact and Newsletter Editor, Ms Rosalind Smith, was recently involved in a car accident in Cairo…a mini bus sideswiped both her and a German colleague as they attempted to drive across the road in a car. The other driver saw them but, unfortunately hit the gas rather than the brakes! Thankfully, no serious injuries ensued which required hospitalization, however, Rosalind sustained bruised ribs and thigh as a result of this collision. EMRO sends Rosalind their Best Wishes for a speedy recovery and were concerned to hear about her injuries due to the incident! Cairo traffic is treacherous!

A previous volunteer for cat socializing at EMRO, Ms Mervat Said, had her apartment recently vandalized when thieves broke in and stole personal belongings – a lap top computer and mobile phone were among the missing items (including the bathroom taps!). She is an Egyptian woman who supports the stray animals on the street and the neighbors don’t appear to appreciate this and make fun of her. The 5 cats she was housing ran out during the break-in, but she was able to recover them all, thankfully, over the next few days. Ms. Said spends much of her time working just trying to support and help the animals. If anyone wishes to help her with donations to help recover her belongings, or even wish to donate an old used laptop, it would be very much appreciated. She is trying to get someone in the media to listen to her story, but is having difficulty due to her status as a single Egyptian woman in this traditional male-dominated society. For more information, please contact Gloria Lauris at info@emaurescue.org and she will put you in touch with Ms Mervat.

SPONSORS

A big "Thank You" and a heartfelt "Welcome" to our new Sponsors who signed on during the last quarter of 2009:

SPONSOR

SPONSORED MAU(S)

Christine Boos (Glottertal, Germany)

Lisa and ZeeZee

Michael Broad (W. London, U.K.)

Charlie

James Callahan (Mississippi, USA)

Gihan

Viviane Kramer ( Wendeburg, Germany)

Sini

Kristy Mordhorst (Texas, USA)

Misho

Olivia Nevarez (Arizona, USA)

Enas and Zainy

DONATORS

A Special "Season’s Greetings" and "Thank You" to our thoughtful Donators who, even during these very hard economic times and overwhelming recession, dug deep into their pockets, gave so that our doors could remain open, and ensured that our Maus were given shelter, food, and were provided with medical care. Thank You!

Shawn Breck, Washington, DC - USA

Naruemon Mayer, New York City - USA

James Bryant, Florida - USA

Beth Pawlick, California - USA

Diane Clement, Sharm el Sheik - Egypt

Pam Piecuch, Illinois - USA

Cheri Collins, USA

Brigette Pohle, California - USA

Clorinda de Stockapler, Nevada – USA

Suzana Psenicnik, (AE) - USA

Todd Dworshak, Massachusetts - USA

Josh Savelkoul, North Carolina - USA

Stephen Glazer, Tenneessee - USA

Peggy Sue Sweet, Oregon - USA

Patricia Heiden (Michigan Tech University),
Michigan - USA

Sharon Walker, North Carolina - USA

NEWS:

Bazaars
EMRO took part in Maadi-based Community Services Association (CSA) bazaars in September and November, where funds and awareness were raised through the good services of volunteers Ms. Faith Kufer and Ms. Rosalind Smith. Various items, including some cat medications,along with donated toys, books and the 2010 EMRO Mau calendar were on sale. (More on the calendar below.)

EMRO had a table at the CSA's during the very last bazaar of 2009, held on December 16th. This
was purely for charities, so there were less tables and fewer people
attending. However, the low attendance may also have been due to the
fact that it wasn't very warm, with a strong wind, plus most expats were busy preparing to leave for their Christmas holidays at the end of this week.

However, the EMRO table manned by Faith, Rosalind and Julifer attracted a goodly amount of attention from animal lovers and, overall,
we took in LE220 in donations and sales, which was good for a three
hour event. We also garnered some interest and hopefully an adoption,
as an Italian lady, named Elvira, said she wanted to adopt a kitten for
her daughter and was looking to visit EMRO on Saturday 19th. Faith
donated several items unused by her little dog, including a winter
coat, a sling handbag-carrier for a small animal, plus various unused
toys and dog toothpaste (which sold almost immediately), and a flea collar. So, a few more items to offer. Also, good news that all the
calendars at the CSA Bookshop had been sold, the store even requested another ten, although they will close today and will not open until January 4th, as there is always a
chance they will sell some at that time.

Maadi Bazaar

2010 EMRO Calendar

Faith Kufer has been invaluable as she has produced beautiful photos of our rescued cats in Perspex as banners for our table, as per the photos on our website, click on News. She also created some simple toys and has done many other things including drumming up interest and donations.

She has funded all of this out of her own pocket and EMRO has taken this funding to support ‘Frankie’, a little bronze street Mau, rescued by Ms. Kufer in Maadi. Frankie is now at EMRO but is still very suspicious of both cats and people. A person usually sees more of his ‘bum’ disappearing than anything else, although during my last visit he only hissed at me without running away!!!

FRANKIE

EMRO took part in the annual Women’s Association Christmas Bazaar at the Wadi Digla Sporting Club, also in Maadi, on December 4th Many callers approached the table and although no sales were permitted, several donations and two one-month sponsors were contributed by Mrs. Aida Hosny for Zainy and Ms. Ira Sekhar for Misho - both donations were very much appreciated.

EMRO will be present at a charity bazaar at the CSA on December16th and, hopefully, will be able to sell some items, make more people aware about EMRO, receive donations and, perhaps, gain a volunteer or two

EMRO Calendar
The 2010 Mau Calendar is a first venture for EMRO and, although small in size, has turned out very well and demand has been brisk. The calendar was printed in the U.K. and brought to Egypt with the kind help of volunteer Ms. Julie Dodd on our behalf.

Unfortunately, posting items from Egypt, which do not always arrive on time or take months if they do, has made it difficult to offer these for sale outside of Egypt and in the United States. We managed to have some calendars flown to Aida Marina in California by a volunteer flying into Los Angeles; the calendars were mailed out after a delay from the volunteer and a few are still available.

Next year, we hope to have bigger and better calendars and send these out early to distribution centers (i.e., volunteers suitably located with a decent postal system so that we can sell these on line.). Professional photographers are being solicited to see if they can grant us a good deal on photos of the shelter cats. Limited copies of the calendar can be purchased in the USA through Aida Marina at sponsor@emaurescue.org, purchased locally in the CSA Bookstore in Maadi, or at the EMRO HQ in Mokattam. Other locations will be serviced by inquiry as we will do a mail-out to Europe, from Germany, at the end of December.

PURINA
We would like to express our gratitude to Mr. Mark Elkhoury and Mr. Nazir Idriss of Nestle PURINA, as well as the local representative, Mr. Hatim Amin, for supporting EMRO not only with ongoing donations of food, but also for offering to help us financially and with other items for any new ventures being considered in order to raise awareness about our charity, including the 2010 calendars.

APO Box
Our first donation box of goodies (thanks to Aida Marina) has been received at EMRO through our new APO box in Maadi. If you are interested in sending supplies and/or donations to EMRO via this address, please contact us.

Media
An excellent article on Mau cats, with info about EMRO written by John Prosser, can be found in the December issue of “Egypt Today” Magazine. Click here for the article in PDF format.

‘Cat Woman’, produced by Joanna Lumley for Granada TV, was finally screened in the U.K. during the Fall. EMRO received a copy of the DVD with the portion relating to Egyptian Maus. However, no mention was made of EMRO (perhaps we were in the end credits), and they showed all types of Baladi cats in Cairo but with no special emphasis on our beloved Maus.

A slideshow presentation of rescued Maus was assembled as an advertising DVD by volunteer Mr. Joseph Laurin of Victoria BC, Canada. We hope to use this slideshow at our future booths and bazaar tables as additional information about Maus.

NESMA
This Fall a number of Native Egyptian Mau breeders banded together worldwide to create an informal association called NESMA (Native Egyptian and Shirazi Mau Association). It is hoped that a new breed standard can be created for Native Maus and Shirazi Maus so that these sub-groups of Maus can be recognized in their own right. For more information see the latest news on this new group, click here.

Out-of-Country Visitors Arrive at EMRO
This December, EMRO was pleased to receive and greet three visitors from different countries. The visitors included the Fretz’s from Dudingen, Switzerland, who arrived in order to select three Maus as pets as well as cats for their new Native Mau breeding program (see NESMA above); Mr. Leo Moerkens of Connecticut, USA, arrived at EMRO to adopt a Mau kitten, and personally escorted him home this December; and Mr. Serge Bonnemaison, from France, arrived and is renting the EMRO Suite from December 2009 until mid-April 2010. EMRO is quickly turning into a mini-United Nations!

Tamara Fretz from Switzerland socializing with the Maus at the EMRO shelter.

WANTED SECTION:

Sponsors - Sponsors very much needed for our new in-take of kittens and cats. Clickhereto view our list of available sponsorable candidates in PDF format.Additionally, click here to see the lucky kitties who were Adopted and jetted out of EMRO earlier this year.

Adopters for these wonderful featured cats:

-Ectadel: This beautiful, green-eyed, bronze Native Mau cat has been around EMRO for way too long. She came into EMRO, not quite a year-old cat, during the Fall of 2005 from another shelter. She will be about 6 years old this March 2010. She is our oldest cat awaiting her Forever Home. She is still a bit fearful but can be touched and, if an Adopter is patient, will be a faithful and sweet companion for years to come. It would be ideal if Ectadel were adopted locally, but she can be considered for overseas adoption as well.

ECTADEL

-Anoosh: This sweet bronze Native Mau kitten was hit by a vehicle/bicycle and we received him this Fall through another shelter. He was born in July 2009, so he is still a young kitten. Due to his injury, his tail fell off! We are assured that he is coping very well, but that he could use some special TLC. At first feral, he relaxed after some local cat socializers worked their magic on him. Soon to be neutered, we hope for a patient and loving Pet Parent for this little fellow who deserves a break and a good home!

ANOOSH

Computer equipment - EMRO urgently needs some new office equipment! If you are getting a new laptop or desktop computer for the holidays and have an older (but still operable) computer that you wish to donate, please consider us! EMRO could use either a laptop or desktop computer and new printer (colour or black and white), since our current scanner and fax is not working very well. (Note: Please see our news item regarding our volunteer, Ms. Mervat, a victim of burglary who would appreciate any donations towards the purchase of a replacement laptop (new or used) as well! Please see the last paragraph under "Volunteer Updates", above.

MENAW Conference
There is to be a second MENAW (Middle Eastern Network for Animal Welfare) Conference in Cairo in early March. (The first one was held in 2007.) EMRO board members and at least two vets will be taking part and manning an exhibition booth. PURINA, our generous sponsor, will be helping fund both our booth display and attendance by various EMRO members at the various workshops. Stay tuned for coming events through this website: www.menaw.net

Fundraising Events & Adoption Days
We plan to hold at least one fundraiser next year and two adoption days.

Software for the EMRO Clinic
Ms. Sona Vinuraj is working on producing a simple database for the clinic where details of all the animal patients can be entered and kept on record. She is volunteering her services free. All of us at EMRO are very grateful for this donation of time and expertise as EMRO is too small, at present, to require expensive software package which are currently available. We hope that if Sona is successful, we will be able to augment this to include another section for in-takes, adoptions and eventually sponsors.

EMRO Lab!
We hope to set up a mini-lab at EMRO starting in January, 2010! This will include a blood sorting machine (to help with sending samples of blood for rabies to the German lab in preparation for the cat’s to travel to Europe), and an X-ray machine (to be purchased soon), making EMRO the only clinic in Mokattam and in the New Cairo area with such a machine. We also expect to receive a microscope, kindly donated by Ms. Khadija Hammond of Florida, USA, early in the new year. Ms. Hammond also promises more donations of her book to us as well!

Maus to New Destinations!
We soon hope to send our first Mau to Asia (if you don’t count Saudi Arabia), as we have a cat pending travel to Seoul, South Korea. We also have a Mau pending travel to the Bern, Switzerland area as of January-February 2010! More firsts for Native Maus from Cairo!